Means for sealing fruit-jars



(No Model.)

J. D. POSTER.

' MEANS FOR SEALING FRUIT JARS, &0. No. 251,565. Patented Dec. 27,1881.

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. PhntwLilho n-phor. Washington D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES D. FOSTER, OF LONDON, KENTUCKY.

MEANS FOR SEALING FRUIT-JARS, 84c.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 251,565, date d December 27, 1881.

Application filed October 29, 1881.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. FOSTER, of

London, in the county of Laurel and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Means for Sealing Fruit Jars, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which the figure is a fruit-jar shown in section at the top to illustrate my means for sealing the same. My invention is an improvement in that method of closing bottles and jars in which the stopper is made in two parts, with holes through both parts that are closed by bringing these two parts together; and it consists in combiningwith the neck of ajar two circular disks of equal diameter having flat sides with holes through them, which holes are arranged out of registration, and one of which disks is forceddown flat upon the other to close the holes in the same and form practically but a single stopper, and with which two disks is preferably combined a top coating of wax or cement, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawing, A represents a fruit-jar, which has a shoulder upon the inner periphery of the neck, a little lower down than usual.

B B are two disk-shaped stoppers, which are made of compressed cotton and have holes a a through them.

C is the capping of sealing-wax.

In putting up the fruit or other materials to be preserved the jars, or both the jars and the fruit, are heated in the usual way. The first stopper, B, is then inserted and forced down upon the shoulder in close proximity to the surface of the fruit,the hole a allowing the air beneath this stopper to escape therethrough. To make this stopper move easily and smoothly down to its place its edges are slightly oiled.

(No model.)

After the first stopper, B, is seated on the shoulder the second stopper, B,is then forced down in a similar manner, the air being allowed to pass from between the two stoppers out through the opening a in the top stopper until this stopper comes in contact with the lower one. At this moment the imperforate face of the top stopper closes the opening a, in the lower stopper and the imperforate face of the lower stopper closes the opening a in the top stopper, thus sealing the fruit in the jar. A coating, 0, of sealing-wax or other equivalent material, is then preferably placed upon the top of the upper stopper; but this is not absolutely necessary, as for most purposes the jar is already sufficiently sealed.

The stoppers B and B, I make of compressed raw cotton or other analogous fiber, which, by its homogeneous character, precludes the passage through the stopper of all poisonous germs of fermentwhich may be in the air, and is at the same time cheap, light, and tightfitting, adapting itself to any inequalities of the internal periphery of the jar. I do not confine my invention to the use of compressed fiber, however, but may in some cases use cork or other equivalent material.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- The combination, with a jar having a shouldered neck on the inside, of two circular unattached disks, B B, of equal dia meter, capable of separate vertical movement within the jarneck, and provided with holes a 61., arranged out of registration, the said disks being in flat contact with each other, to close the holes a a and form practically a single stopper, as described.

JAMES DANIEL FOSTER.

Witnesses:

JOHN BRYANT, JOHN B. LUCAS. 

